A Love Letter to Life - random poems

Mandarin Pips

when time was not time - a snail, a tortoise, a shell of a crab
watch - the second hand chase the third, the hare
the clock - an ornament, round and round
the sun - decoration, shine and chime, and cry
the dew to the grass, slippery, grains of the sad hourglass

The friendly tree was our playground, battlefield, warzone
picnic place, motorbike race - our invisible wheels
of the highest design, drove alpine
ranges in sixty seconds. Swords and weapons play
expert mode, Luigi, Toad hums a new record

mums and dads the favourite, then magical powers, picking flowers, moving the earth
with our minds, all kinds of colours, the sky, defying the night it soaks
our hair in wind, our smiles in breeze, broad, beaming, catch
that butterfly! now we're planes, let's pretend, hide, seek
tag, you're it! Kings of the world, Queens of the Kings

winter ice-creams in sticky fingers grasped
brain freeze, skinned knees,
get up, you'll be right, scared of bees but honey's yummy, tighten the straps
on your roller-skates, looking great, look and
leap - the oceans endless game, white-tips on toes, run, jump, splash,

laugh, laughing, laughter, and after -
more, evermore, always, our joy
clothes were smudged rainbows, boyfriends imaginary
the sun a canary bird wanting wings, a giant ball, throw
catch! bowl, strike! roll down that hill, no shame grass stains, don't care, truth or

dare. we share, address? pillow fort - right at the kitchen and left at the pool, rug
snug, our bears, toys, toes in onesies, run!
catch me if you can! corner to corner cushioned, soft, jump
fly, fall, mattress mortar, blue-tack brick
each landing padded, no fear we steer, miniature boats

ten thirty mandarin, spit out the pips, the apple's a hit
and it, Christmas, starts at 6, birthdays at seven
it's heaven, really, jump on the bed till the sun wakes up too
the thoughts in our head are bright, joy, new
like the morning grass, the rain in our hair, soon to

pass the parcel - law, a must. A dusty box, gran's eternal
recipe, number one, not to compare with all the world because soon the
world will be ours - when we're big, when we're big and smart and old and
happy, learn to tell, have a hand in time, joy forever and ever
and ever and always, as it should

it passed, that hand, while you weren't looking
ice-cream - brain freeze, frozen
eaten by time, hungry beast, beware its lair
a trap - we swallow the mandarin
pips. picnics turn to paper shredders, inking letters,

never better. nine to five and feeling
nothing - desk chairs, office wares, coffee stains
upward stairs. fridge magnets clutch bills as you
clutch that old bird - old cogs, old house, clutch
that old bear to your chest, damp paws, doesn't mind

tears, tears, corners on corners we choke the tree in concrete, blink, blink
Christmas mornings lazy, long, think, think
where you went wrong, an old song now like
browning grass, not made to last. Lost
to the wind, your grey-scale sunset

sit, stand, upturn your frown, the canary sun grows wings
cry not for grey clouds - waste no time
cry for joy - the crisp grass, roller-skate clasps
we're not afraid of bees anymore - adore, applaud for love and
cry for life - the grass, the dew that is always fresh